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Anticonvulsant Medication in a Mental Handicap Hospital: 1972–1982

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 January 2018

L. C. Sheppard ,
B. R. Ballinger  and
G. W. Fenton
L. C. Sheppard
Affiliation:
Dundee Psychiatric Service
B. R. Ballinger
Affiliation:
Dundee Psychiatric Service
G. W. Fenton*
Affiliation:
University of Dundee
*
∗University of Dundee, Ninewells Hospital, Dundee DD1 9SY
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Abstract

The prescription sheets for all patients in a mental handicap hospital on one day in 1972 and on the same date in 1982 were examined to identify trends in anticonvulsant medication over a 10-year period. There was a reduction in size of the hospital population associated with fewer very young and milder handicapped persons. Prescription of anticonvulsants fell slightly during the decade under study with a dramatic fall in the use of phenobarbitone, and a parallel increase in the prescription of carbamazepine. Other changes included the use of sodium valproate in a significant minority of patients and the occasional use of clonazepam in 1982, while phenytoin remained a first-rank anticonvulsant throughout the period under review. The proportions of patients on polytherapy did not change over the 10-year period, though the contribution of phenobarbitone to the combined drug regimes was significantly reduced.

Type
Research Article
Information
The British Journal of Psychiatry , Volume 150 , Issue 4 , April 1987 , pp. 513 - 517
Copyright
Copyright © 1987 The Royal College of Psychiatrists 

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